Not So Different
by AnythingButOrdinaryGirl
Summary: "Because inside you're ugly, you're ugly like me" Never in a million years did Gabriella Montez think at the beginning of the school year that this would be where she would end up – in the arms of the one she 'hated'.


**Another new story :) Not sure if I like this OneShot as much as my others but its something I wrote a while back and after editing a little I think its worth a shot at putting out there! I hopeyou guys enjoy it and once again if you could review it, I'd be extremely greatful. Thanks :)**

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Not So Different

Gabriella Montez huffed and puffed as she heaved her heavy books onto the steel red locker shelf one at a time, sighing when the weight finally disappeared. A typical day at school she thought, don't get her wrong she was good at school and heck she was even top of the class but she couldn't help but feel that was all her life had become. There was nothing else in her life that seemed to stand out or make her smile, her life had become stuck in a routine and she was in a rut. Her life was mundane and the realisation of this just depressed her further as she stared at her reflection in the small mirror attached to her locker door. The person staring back at her was not the person she once remembered, her face was pale and dark circles had started to appear under her eyes. Grabbing the little make up she had out of her bag she attempted to improve the situation but was quickly interrupted by the loud shrill of the school bell. "Fuck" she cursed under her breath as she shook her head and slammed the steel door shut, heading to class. Her parents were to blame for her tired features; in fact they were to blame for most things she concluded as she headed down the busy hallway.

Turning into a classroom, Gabriella headed to the back of the class where her seat was and plugged her earphones into her ears. Her homeroom teacher was something to wonder about, she was definitely not from this planet and she did not have the will to sit and listen to her talk rubbish and be overly dramatic. It was too early and she was just too tired to be dealing with her crap. Gabriella's eyes moved from the desk in front of her to the front of the classroom as Troy Bolton walked into the classroom as though he was God. Troy Bolton thought he had it all and it pissed Gabriella off more than she would ever admit. He swanned around as though he was royalty, flirting with numerous girls and acting as though he had authority over everyone. As she watched him walk through the classroom she studied him carefully and shook her head silently, disgusted at his persona.

Troy sat down on the empty desk next to her and she shifted in her seat slightly, turning her head to look out the large windows to her right.

"Well hello to you too Montez" He drawled out in his sweetest voice.

Gabriella rolled her eyes and continued to stare out the window, she did not have the patience for this guy today and so god help her if he kept staring at her she was going to knock his teeth out.

"Aw come on Montez, don't ignore me. What did I ever do to you? I only wanted to say hello" Troy pressed further in a voice that sounded like a 5 year old whining for candy.

Gabriella breathed in slowly before turning to face him, "You live that's what you did, now do me a favour and Leave. Me. Alone"

Troy looked visibly shocked for a second before regaining his confidence "Ooh Montez bites hard, I like a feisty girl"

Luckily Mrs Henderson walked through the door before Gabriella could smack Troy Bolton across the face so hard that it left a hand print for a week. She just couldn't bear him or his arrogance and as she thought about it, she wondered how he ended up like that – she'd know him since Elementary School and he'd never been this arrogant. Sighing she concluded he just grew up and became a jock before turning her attention back to the desk in front of her which was a lot more appealing than Mrs Henderson's lectures on the importance of the arts.

Lunchtime couldn't have come quicker for Gabriella, she couldn't bear sitting in any more lessons in which she could tell the teacher what to do. Patience was not her forte and today was worse than usual with her lack of sleep but she would survive she supposed as she headed to her usual table in the cafeteria. She sat down, greeting her friends in the process who she knew were about to berate her about her lack of presence this weekend.

"Hey Gabs, so what happened to you this weekend?" Sharpay, ever the one to get straight to the point, asked while studying her perfectly manicured nails.

Gabriella rolled her eyes at the predictability of her group of friends and simply shrugged her shoulders at them before turning her attention to her lunch.

Her other best girlfriend quickly chimed in, unsatisfied with just a shrug of the shoulders "I'm sorry Gabby but I don't know what a shrug of the shoulders means, what happened to you girl? We missed you" The dark skinned girl asked as she studied Gabriella.

"Babysitting" was the answer she gave and continued on with previous actions.

The gang all nodded knowingly, it was often she would be told she was babysitting without prior warning that's just the way it worked in the Montez household when both parents worked sporadic hours. They'd grown to expect it and even though it was generally on weekdays it happened they just shrugged and continued with their conversations, thinking nothing of it or the fact that there best friend looked tired and worn.

"Mom I'm home" Gabriella bellowed through the house as she dropped her stuff by the stairs. "Mom? Mooom? Helloo?" Gabriella walked through the house to find no one home and she scoffed to herself, this was a surprise. Of course she was being sarcastic; her parents never seemed to be home that much these days. She supposed her Mom must be out grocery shopping considering there was no note she thought as she opened the refrigerator door and grabbed herself a bottle of water. Padding through the rooms into the living room she plopped onto the sofa and switched on the TV.

As Gabriella rested her eyes she heard the sound of car doors being slammed and the sound of tiny footsteps running up the driveway and she groaned. She loved her siblings but she was so tired and was hoping for a quick nap before they got home.

"GABBY" Came the piercing scream of a 5 year old girl as she raced through the house looking for her sister.

"I'm down here" She shouted back as she rolled her eyes.

The petite child ran to the living room and jumped on her sister like she'd been gone for a year. "I missed you today"

Gabriella smiled and hugged her close, they were close for sisters with such a large age gap but that was probably because she spent a lot of her time caring for her sister. "Okay Addy, why don't you sit down here and watch SpongeBob while I help mom?"

Her sister complied while she went to the car to help her mom with the groceries and her little brother too. "Hey Caden" she offered as she ruffled her brothers soft brown hair.

"Hey Gabs, I got a new truck today" The little boy said excitedly.

Gabriella smiled at him before helping her Mom take the groceries inside as always. She figured her father was at work again, he seemed to live there these days but she still remembered a time when he would be here helping her mother bring the groceries in and be joking around. Not anymore.

Troy Bolton entered his two story house around five pm after a gruelling basketball practice after school to be greeted with the sound of his mother and father arguing in the kitchen. This was somewhat of a regular occurrence in the Bolton household of late and Troy just shook his head before making his way upstairs to check on his younger sibling.

Popping his head around a door, Troy observed his little sister sitting and playing with her Barbie dolls as though nothing was going on downstairs. "Hey princess"

The blonde girl of six years old looked up from her game and grinned widely at the sight of her brother. "Hi Troy want to play?"

Troy chuckled before settling himself on the carpet next to his sister and helping her dress her Barbie dolls. What he wasn't prepared for was what came out of her mouth next.

"Troy, do mummy and daddy not love each other anymore? They're always shouting at each other all the time and they get angry" The question was asked so innocently and with a voice of concern that Troy's heart almost burst. How did he explain this to a six year old, especially when he had no more of a clue than she did?

He couldn't fathom when his parents' relationship had taken a downhill turn, he just remembered realising one day that they spent an awful lot of their time fighting with each other over things from grocery shopping, to money and even to both him and his sister. He hated that his sister had to witness their almost daily fights because he knew how much it hurt to see the people who were supposed to be responsible for you, the people who were supposed to love you and the people who were supposed to protect you, verbally abuse each other without a second thought. Of course they were all smiles and happiness in front of any guests they had around and this had lead to his friends thinking he had the perfect life; a nice house, nice parents and even a younger sister to act protective of.

Realising his sister was still awaiting her reply, he turned to her and gave her the most reassurance he could offer "Aly, I'm sure mommy and daddy do love each other, they just forget sometimes and argue. Just remember no matter what they'll always love you, okay?"

Troy witnessed her nod her head as she returned to playing with her dolls and he shook his head ever so slightly, he knew his answer wasn't the best but he honestly had no valid reason to offer the little girl. He was annoyed that his parents were so insensitive and oblivious to their children's distress at their constant bickering and tearing each other part but there wasn't a lot he could do.

School was the same as always for Gabriella Montez as she made her way to lunch later that week but as she turned the corner she heard yelling and arguing.

"Dad I told you already, I was late for practise because I got detention" Troy Bolton exclaimed heatedly as he flung his arms in the air.

Coach Bolton only scoffed "Whatever you say son. Just make sure your on time in future so as not to let the team down"

Gabriella Montez just watched as coach Bolton stalked off in the direction of the teacher's lounge and Troy grabbed the orange ball lying on the gym floor and tossed it into the net with extreme force. Figuring it was how things worked when you were on the basketball team the brunette just shrugged and continued to her destination, not particularly interested in Troy Bolton's 'problems'. Besides she had more than enough problems of her own; tonight she would be babysitting her siblings for the third night that week and she had weekend duty too, this would not settle well with her friends.

"Hey Gabs, over here" Her best friend, Taylor McKessie hollered across the cafeteria.

Gabriella sat down by her friends and sighed, she should get this over with sooner rather than later. "Guys, I have bad news – I can't hang out this weekend" She looked at the familiar faces around the table and noticed they either had their eyebrows raised, questioning her or were shaking their heads in a sad way.

"Babysitting?" The blonde girl asked.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry guys. I begged my mother but I don't have much of a choice unless I'd prefer being homeless" She sighed heavily once again, her life was just full of shit and she was fed up of having no life.

Her friends just nodded not even questioning exactly why Gabriella had to babysit so much, much preferring to discuss their own personal lives. Deciding she'd rather eat lunch somewhere quiet and tranquil, Gabriella headed to the science garden on the roof which she had been using since her freshmen year of school. The place was unknown to virtually everyone at the school and she loved to go there to just think and get away from things. On climbing the stairs her mocha eyes caught sight of someone else up there and as she reached the top step she groaned inwardly, realising Troy Bolton knew her favourite spot.

Sensing someone behind him, Troy looked around and smirked at the sight. "Hey Montez, nice of you to drop by, I knew you'd come around to my ways of thinking eventually"

"Grow up Bolton. I have no interest in you or your sleazy ways so get over yourself and get out of my secret garden" She retorted as she looked him in the eye.

Gazes met and locked as tension built in the surrounding air between the teens. Looking away awkwardly Troy cleared his throat "Who said it was your garden Montez, I found this place and it didn't have your name on it"

"I've known about this place since my freshmen year and only I'm supposed to know about it and I'd love it if you would go so I could get some peace and quiet"

Troy took in her slightly worn appearance and something inside him was curious as to what had gotten into her lately. Sure she was feisty and gave him the shove off on a regular basis but nowadays she seemed to be a lot more irritable and she often looked tired. He shrugged it off "I was going anyway Montez but don't think I won't be back" He said with a wink as he made his way down the concrete steps and out of sight.

True to his word, Gabriella bumped into Troy later that day, again. As he cornered her in the hallway she rolled her eyes at him and wondered what he could possibly want this time.

"You know Montez I've been thinking about you since earlier and I have to say you're pretty hot. I'm hot and your hot, perfect match don't you think?" He asked in a low voice as he placed his hands on either side of her head on the wall and decreased the gap between them.

"Troy what will it take for you to realise I'm not interested in you? I never was and never will be" She retorted even though the chills that had run her spine just seconds earlier were telling her differently.

"Never, now I think that's a bit harsh Miss Montez. 'Never say never'- isn't that what they say? Besides we've known each other since Elementary School, what more reasoning could you need? You know me, I know you."

Gabriella shook her head "Yeah I knew a different Troy Bolton in Elementary School though; he wasn't a self obsessed jerk who hit on every girl with tits and ass" She sighed "Look Troy I'm not interested in someone who changes to fit in with the crowd and dates half the school, I don't know what happened to you Troy but I hope it was worth it"

The conversation had suddenly taken a more serious tone as Gabriella attempted to get Troy to understand how she really did not want to go out with or have anything to do with him.

"You know nothing Montez, don't you dare assume you know everything about me because you know fuck all" He growled fiercely as his cerulean orbs turned into a dark navy.

Gabriella was slightly shocked at this outburst and tried to comprehend what he meant but came up blank. "Well you know fuck all about me either Troy so I guess we're not the perfect match you always assumed right?" She lightly pushed him out the way as she collected herself "See you around Bolton"

Troy Bolton was pissed and that was not a good thing. Girls never got to him, they never got under his skin but one assumption from Gabriella Montez had him seething as he watched her walk away and down the hallway. He had no idea what had just happened.

Arriving home, Gabriella was relieved to find her father's car in the driveway for once. Perhaps she might actually be able to go out tonight and it would be good timing too considering there was a planned party at Jason Cross's house.

"Hi I'm..." Gabriella's sentence faltered as she heard screaming coming from the kitchen. Listening to the voices she heard it was her mother and father and zoned in on their argument.

"I fucking hate you Robert Montez, I fucking hate you do you hear me?" Her mother screamed as she banged what sounded like dishes onto a hard surface.

"Baby I didn't mean for this to happen, it was just supposed to be a onetime thing" Her father sounded as though he was pleading his case on something and she wondered what it was he had done this time.

"All this time I thought you were working, working hard to secure our family, our children the best future possible but all the time you were shagging that slut down at the office"

The screaming continued but Gabriella was frozen to the spot, her father, the man she had always admired and loved had cheated! He had cheated on his own wife and had lied to his own children about working. All those times she thought he was being overworked by his boss, he was actually sleeping with some other woman. She felt sick and her stomach turned as she robotically placed one foot in front of the other as she realised her siblings must be somewhere in the house. Heading to her brothers room first she found him hugging their sister tightly on the bed as they both sobbed, terrified of the fight that had broken out downstairs. Her own tears threatened to fall as she scooped them both up and held on to them tightly.

"Its okay guys, I'm here for you now"

Caden was the first to speak up "Gabby what's going on, why are they shouting at each other?"

"I'm not sure Cade but we'll be okay. How about we watch Spongebob for a while before we get something for dinner?" Gabriella asked, attempting to redirect her sibling's attention.

After agreeing, Gabriella switched the television on and both children settled down as they became engrossed in the yellow character on the screen. For Gabriella though, it wasn't so simple. Her mind raced as she thought about what had happened and as she focused her eyes on the TV screen she was more than aware of the fact she could still hear comments being shouted downstairs. Her body stiffened and her eyes watered once again as she heard her mother downstairs.

"Get out. Get out of this house now. I don't want to see you ever again. You have the nerve to come here and tell me you've been having an affair with some other woman and now you're telling me she's pregnant and you're going to support her"

The sound of the front door closing was the next sound that Gabriella heard followed by footsteps on the stairs.

"Gabby dear I have to go to work, I've left you money for food on the counter and I'll be back as soon as possible" Anna Montez said with as much confidence as she could, her voice slightly shaking as she locked eyes with her eldest child.

Gabriella bit her lip, holding back tears "Okay mama"

For Gabriella it took all her effort to get through the rest of the evening and be strong for her siblings but as soon as she was locked up in her room the tears flowed and that's how it stayed as the week passed by. Gabriella would look after her siblings, with hardly a word spoken to her mother and then cry herself to sleep at the thought of her father not loving them anymore and doing what he'd done. The situation only got worse and had resulted in Gabriella missing a week of school so as she approached the school on her first day back she wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

Heads turned as they observed Gabriella Montez, the girl looked like death and they gossiped about what could have possibly been wrong with her the past week. Troy Bolton was one of these spectators and as he looked at her image he noticed the drawn look to her face and how tired she appeared. Her body was covered with jeans and a hoody and on her feet were converse, none of which resembled the usual Gabriella.

The day passed with stares from the student body and questions from her friends all of which she took in her stride. Gabriella Montez hated lying to her friends but she had no other choice, what could she tell them? That her whole life seemed to be a complete mess never mind a lie, she didn't think so.

Troy Bolton arrived home after detention to see his little sister sitting silently on the sofa watching the TV. As he dropped his bag by the door he slipped into the living room and sat next to the blonde haired girl and greeted her with the tickle monster. The girl's innocently sweet laugh echoed through the room as she fought for her breath and pleaded for her brother to stop.

"Trroooy stop, pleaseee"

Troy chuckled "Okay sis. So how was your day today?"

The little girls smile turned into a frown as she thought about what had happened when they had gone grocery shopping. "Mommy and Daddy argued at the grocery store and they argued because you got detention too"

Troy sighed, now they were arguing in public, great. "I'm sorry Aly, you shouldn't have had to see that, how about I take you out for some ice cream to cheer you up?"

The little girls eyes lit up and the pair headed to the ice cream parlour straight after dinner. Troy was glad to get them both out of the house because if he knew his parent's they weren't done arguing for the day just yet.

Gabriella Montez opened the door to the shop and let her siblings run in ahead of her to choose what kind of ice cream they wanted. Looking around the shop, she was surprised to see Troy Bolton of all people in there with his sister. Clearing her thoughts she headed to the counter were her siblings eagerly awaited and bounced from one foot to the other in anticipation, she smiled slightly at the sight, it was good to be out of the house and see them with a smile on their face, even if it was only for an hour.

As Troy heard a familiar voice he looked up and spotted Gabriella, his heart picked up speed and he wondered why he had never found out about her siblings. Well he assumed they were her siblings as they all looked the same. As she sat herself down at a nearby table, the little girl in front of him started bouncing in her seat happily, trying to get her brothers attention.

"Troy, Troy"

"Huh, what? What's up Al?"

The little girl giggled at her brother "Look, look it's my friend from pre-k, can I go say hello to her? Please? Pretty please?"

Troy was baffled, he had never heard her mention any of her friends that much and as he followed the direction of her finger he was even more surprised. His sister's friend was Gabriella's sister. Knowing he couldn't deny his sister a chance to say hello, he pushed his chair back and took her over to their table.

"Um hey Gabriella"

Gabriella's eyes showed confusion at Troy Bolton actually speaking to her outside of school "Uh, Hey?"

"I just brought my sister over to say hello to, uh, your sister I guess. Turns out their friends in pre-k"

"Oh right, I never knew that" She commented.

"Me either till just now. So um is everything okay? Haven't seen you around school much lately" Troy probed, curious as to what was going on with her.

Gabriella put her best smile on before meeting his eyes "Everything's fine"

Troy left the subject alone but sensed she was holding back something, he could see a distant and sad look in her eyes and he wondered what was going on. They filled their time with small chit chat as their siblings interacted and giggled together.

After leaving the shop, Gabriella couldn't help but sigh of relief, Troy was too nosey for his own good and she didn't want to have to explain her messed up life to anyone let alone him. As she thought of Troy, she thought of what she'd seen earlier after school in the grocery store. She had seen Troy's parents arguing with each other in front of their daughter like it was a normal day to day event and she wondered what was up with that.

When Gabriella walked through her front door, she was greeted by the mother she had hardly seen in the past few weeks.

"Hello my dears" She greeted as though nothing had happened.

After greeting their mother, Gabriella insisted her siblings go and get ready for bed as it was getting pretty late now.

"We didn't expect you home" Gabriella mumbled to her mother as she focused on anything but her face.

"Oh well I decided I could work from the sofa tonight, what else did they invent laptops for hey?" Anna commented as she tried to ease the tension.

"Oh so your back for work, not us. Great"

A flicker of hurt passed across Anna Montez's face before she regained herself "Don't backchat me Gabriella, someone has to pay the bills"

"Yeah but you could try seeing your children in between all that too" Gabriella was angry, she hated how her mother had just blocked everything out and let Gabriella to pick up the pieces.

"You talk as though I don't care about you, of course I care I just have to work"

"No mom this isn't about you needing to work all the time is it? It's about avoiding any thought of dad"

"Go to your room young lady, your grounded. How dare you speak to me like that?"

Gabriella stomped up the stairs and flopped back on her bed, if her mother thought that sending her to her room and grounding her was going to solve anything she was more deluded than she thought. After all she was used to being cooped up indoors lately. As she lay there in bed something inside of her snapped, she was not going to be used like this by her own mother, she was going out and finding a party to go to.

Sneaking out of her room via her balcony had been easier than she'd ever envisaged as she found herself walking swiftly down her street. She was heading towards Jason Cross's house, after all that's were all the parties seemed to happen. The party was in full swing as she arrived and the first sight she was greeted with was Troy Bolton feeling up one of the cheerleaders from school. She almost gagged as she passed them and made her way to the punch bowl to grab a drink. Scanning the room as she did so, she noticed her friends had spotted her and were making their way over to her.

"Gabby, you made it! It's nice to finally see you outside of school" Sharpay said a little too enthusiastically.

Gabriella laughed slightly at her eccentric friend and scanned her group of friends to find them all in agreement. She had missed hanging out with her friends.

"Yeah, I finally got out" She replied as she took a drink from her cup.

After a while of talking, the girls took to the dance floor where they proceeded to spend most of their night in between getting drinks. Gabriella found herself talking to the football captain later in the evening and they were getting 'friendly' with each other when they were interrupted by one Troy Bolton.

"Bolton shove off and leave us alone" Tom Johnson stated before capturing Gabriella's lips in another fiery kiss.

Not bothering with words, Troy Bolton pulled the dark haired boy off of Gabriella.

"Dude what is your problem?"

"My problem is that your taking advantage of a girl who is fucking pissed out of her brain and has no idea what she's doing" Troy was annoyed.

"Oh like you never do it and besides it's not my fault she's a slut and easy" Tom smirked as he looked at Troy.

Troy wasted no time in punching him in the face as Gabriella tried to insist on Troy leaving Tom alone, they were just getting to know each other better. Troy just shook his head and dragged the petite Latina out of the party and into his car. Luckily enough he didn't usually drink at these parties and he had a vague idea of where she lived. The car drive was anything but quiet as Gabriella shouted and screamed at Troy to let her out and that she was a big girl and she could handle herself. Troy had remained calm but had firmly told her she was not getting out and she was in no state to be making decisions at this point.

"Why does everyone think they can control me? Control my life? First my mother and now you"

"I'm not controlling your life and I'm sure your mother isn't either, she just looks out for you"

Gabriella's eyes turned a deeper brown as she looked at Troy "You have no idea what my life is like Troy, my mother thinks I'm just there to babysit my siblings while she runs off to work and avoids thinking about how my father cheated on her and got another woman pregnant"

Troy mumbled under his breath as they approached the Montez household "Least you haven't got a pushy father and parents who argue constantly"

Troy had no idea how to reply to her statement and instead helped Gabriella up to her front door and rung the bell.

"Um hi Mrs Montez, I believe this is your daughter"

Anna released a sigh of relief; she'd been up to her daughter's room to check on her earlier only to find her room empty with no sigh of her anywhere. "Thank you so much young man"

"No problem. I just thought I should bring her back before she ended up getting into trouble she would regret" Troy replied truthfully.

"Thanks again" She replied as she shut the door firmly behind her and put her daughter safely to bed where she passed out.

Gabriella awoke the next day with a pounding headache and groaned at the thought of last night. Sadly she remembered it all and knew school was going to be an interesting day. Dragging herself to her bathroom she readied herself for the day, putting on a hoody and jeans again before grabbing Advil and water and heading out.

The school was bustling as usual by time she arrived and she groaned inside as she thought about all the gossip that would be spreading about her right about now. Walking up to the doors of East High, she could feel people staring at her and whispering to each other and she suddenly couldn't wait for the day to be over.

The day passed excruciatingly slowly for Gabriella and by the time lunch rolled around she was more than fed up of people. People who needed to mind their own business. Rounding the corner, Gabriella once again saw Troy and his father, coach Bolton in a heated row though what about she couldn't tell. She continued to walk on only to be caught up by Troy.

"Well well look who it is" He smirked as his eyes burned into hers.

Gabriella sighed "Troy what do you want?"

"What? No, 'thanks for last night Troy' or explanations?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes "Fine. Thank you for last night Troy. I'm so glad you got me out of that party, happy?"

"Hey, you could cut the sarcasm; I did prevent you from sleeping with that guy although I couldn't prevent you looking like a slut"

Gabriella's eyes locked on his as she stopped in the hallway they were currently walking down. He had that stupid smirk on his face and was acting like some hero when he was probably the biggest slut in the school. She was seething with anger "How fucking dare you call me a slut Troy, have you looked at yourself recently?"

"Yep I'm hot thanks" He said with a wink "Besides I might be a man whore at times but I'm not as messed up as you are lately" He could see her anger boiling slowly and he had to admit it was a huge turn on.

Gabriella's fury was heightened, he knew he was referring to her comment on her parents separation that she had let slip in the car. "Don't you dare judge me Troy Bolton; you walk around like your some god, like you have no problems at all. Well guess that Troy, I know your little secrets, I know your just as messed up as me – your parents are always fighting and you and your dad are always fighting because he pressures you to do things you don't want" Seeing the wide eyes on Troy's face she continued "That's right Troy, I know you're just as ugly as me on the inside, you're also not the big jerk you play yourself out as, I see your true colours"

"I-how the fuck do you know these things?" Troy was shocked; no one knew any of this stuff.

Sighing Gabriella replied "Troy I've seen things from my outside position and then your comments just confirmed it in the car, I heard you when you thought I didn't"

"Shit"

Gabriella could see the distress on Troy's features but found herself thinking he looked kind of cute "Troy you should think about how you act. Just because your family is messed up doesn't mean you have to act like the biggest jerk in the world. At least your parents are still together" She replied, tears forming in her eyes.

"Maybe I'm not acting? Maybe I'm just naturally like this"

"Well then you're not the Troy Bolton I thought you were" she replied softly as she gazed into his ocean blue eyes.

Troy just watched her intently for a minute before he pushed her against the nearest wall and kissed her; he'd been chasing her for so long. Gabriella was shocked but soon responded, she'd grown a strange liking to Troy Bolton of late and the fact he was just as damaged as her made her feel just a little bit better. Their tongues locked in a fearsome battle before they pulled back for air.

"Well seeing as we're both damaged, maybe we can try being damaged together? You know help one another heal especially considering you're the only one who knows the real me" Troy smirked slightly as he clasped their hands together and walked towards the cafeteria.

"Maybe that's not such a bad idea"

Never in a million years did Gabriella Montez think at the beginning of the school year that this would be where she would end up – in the arms of the one she 'hated', realising that they weren't so different after all.

_But I'm on the outside  
I'm looking in  
I can see through you  
See your true colours  
'Cause inside you're ugly  
You're ugly like me  
I can see through you  
See to the real you

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**I own the storyline only. All right go to rightful owners. Please review :)**_  
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